Why The Bottom Is Top Of The Pops ...And Sweet Revenge On Mr Spotty -Lol! (Bass Guitars in general)

Member Name: Caveat-Emptor

Product:	Bass Guitars in general
Date:	28/09/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unlimited Possibilities, Ability To Underpin Most Of The popular Music Genres

Disadvantages: No Fun To Play On Your Own!!

My review of Bass Guitars in General
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Introduction
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One of the most contemporary popular elements in any musical mix/ensembles nowadays is the bass guitar (or bass synth -lol!) - Bass has become a key constituent of most music styles; from Rock, Blues, Funk, Indie etc.

Most modern throw-away pop and dance music enthusiasts are obsessed with the low frequencies (as any annoying spotty little individual driving his car down your road with a relentless bump, bump, bump emanating from his car stereo will testify -lol!). But putting the aggravating Mr Spotty aside for a while and returning to the history of the bass guitar; just how did we get here... and when it comes to real bass guitars; what are the features to look out for?

For my review I'm going to focus on the origins of the electric bass guitar, and specifically on two of the most popular bass guitars of all time to hopefully give you an insight into the wonderful, ground shaking world of bass guitars ... (and I'll come back to Mr Spotty -I promise :-)


There's Nowt Like An Upright Bass Lad!!!
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Once upon a time, adding a bass 'line' to a song with a stringed instrument meant only one thing; a musician with a huge upright double bass (if you're not sure what a double bass looks like -it's the largest string instrument that you'll see in an orchestra - it kind of looks like a violin made to King Kong -lol!! - and is held vertically upright, with all the weight of the instrument resting on the floor).

One important difference between how a double bass is played in an orchestra and how the instrument was (and still is) played in a band setting -is that bass players in bands use their fingers to sound (pluck) the notes (like a harp player or guitarist would) rather than using a bow (as is the norm in orchestral settings).


Robin Hood Never Forget His Bow!!
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The supposed origin of this (though it may just be music folklore ;-) is that an upright bass player in a band during the early days of jazz, forgot to bring his bow to a gig/rehearsal (the story varies here and there -lol!), and was forced to use his fingers to pluck the bass for the whole of the performance -and that everyone liked the sound so much that he never used the bow again... and other players quickly followed suit....That's the legend anyway :-)

One thing we can be sure of is that the finger style plucking (I said plucking -lol!) technique that started on the upright double bass, was carried over to the electric bass guitar (which I'll come to in a moment) and still remains one of (if not the) most popular ways of playing bass, even today!

(The other styles include the arguably less skilful use of a plectrum -popular because it produces a very 'tight' sound, slap bass using your thumb great for funk etc -though it can supposedly eventually wear away part of your thumb joint if done excessively, and there are also some more obscure ways of playing such as two handed tapping, or using an magnet/magnetic field {a commercial version exists called an Ebow} in near proximity to the pickup of an electric bass to vibrate the strings without touching them).


How The Bass Started To Get The Electric Meter Ticking...
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Though there was nothing wrong with the sound of an upright bass (although many players today would opt for a brighter sounding instrument -unless they played Jazz / traditional folk / some county music/ early rock n roll), bass players understandably got a little tired with carrying a huge instrument around to play small gigs. What was needed was a smaller, louder version of the bass guitar -and the breakthrough moment came in the 1950's after radio repair man Leo Fender had been doing a bit of tinkering....

What Leo did for the bass guitar is impossible to overstate; without his invention of the electric bass, much of the music we hear now would not have the same tight, big, fat bass sound that we're so used to nowadays, and all the records made in the past 50 years would sound very different -lol!


Don't Fret Says Leo; You Can Play Even If You're Not So Hot!!
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Having listened to what players wanted Leo made his first electric bass and called it the 'Precision Bass'. It was called the 'Precision' because one of Leo's innovations was to add frets like a guitar has (incidentally yes it is the Same Leo Fender who is famous for inventing two of the most popular electric guitars of all time -The Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster).

Upright basses were all fretless, which meant you had to find notes by ear; a great skill and not too easy to do in a noisy rock n roll or full on jazz/big band setting - also in fairness it must be said that, Leo shrewdly knew that not all the potential customers for his new 'Precision Bass' were particularly skilled musicians - and by adding frets it meant that learning to play bass was not as difficult as on an upright bass -lol!! ...Though many great musicians made the transition to Leo's fretted Precision Bass guitar too!

Frets weren't Leo's only innovation; Leo designed the bass (just as he designed his famous 6 string guitars) to be simply constructed/taken apart/ repaired - the same way that Henry Ford made cars :-). Rather than relying on the body of the bass to make enough volume for the audience t hear (which is one of the reasons the upright double bass has to be so big) Leo made the Precision Bass body out of a solid piece of wood to keep it relatively small and light - all the volume would come from simply plugging the bass into a suitable amplifier; and so one of the most popular electric basses of all time was born -and the gates thrown open for a whole new era of music.

The Precision Bass from the 1950's is still VERY sought after even today; models change hands for many thousands of pounds; and those who can afford them (such as Sting) still play them on their recordings and gigs today).


A Little Revision To The Fender Precision!!
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The early Precision Bass was quickly further developed and tweaked - the bridge intonation adjustment was improved, the body and headstock were made aesthetically more pleasing etc, but essentially it is still the same 4 stringed instrument with the same split pickup design complete with volume and tone control than Leo designed over half a century ago, that is still one of the most popular, best selling bass guitar designs in the world. (Compare Leo's design skill's with the design of a car or PC etc... imagine if someone had designed a car or computer that was so good that that it was still at the cutting edge 50 years after it's launch... to see just how amazing the Precision Bass was and is!).


A Little Pizazz Lead's To The Jazz!!!
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After the Precision Bass came Leo's other famous bass design; the 'Jazz Bass'. The Jazz Bass was supposed to be an upmarket version of the Precision Bass as it had a more contoured body which (some, but by no means all people agree) was supposedly more comfortable to play than a Precision - it also had 2 pickups and in addition to the Precision's volume and tone control, the Jazz had a blend control so that the sound from the two pickups could be easily mixed together to any desired degree.

The Jazz Bass also proved incredibly popular - though with hindsight no-one thinks it's a step up from a Precision Bass anymore, merely a step in a different direction... The Precision and Jazz Basses had/have very different sounds and really it's just down to a players preference as to which sound they prefer (though it's undeniable that the Jazz Bass offers the most tonal variation because of it's 2 pickup design). ...and forget the Jazz name - as the Jazz Bass is as popular with rock, blues, pop, funk, punk and grunge bands as it is with Jazz players lol!!


Two Into One Will Go!!
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As many players loved both Fender basses but didn't want to carry two basses around with them to gigs, There is a third variation on the Fender Bass was born; the hybrid version. The hybrid version is usually just a Jazz Bass but instead of the usual two Jazz Bass pickups, the second pickup is replaced with a Precision Bass split pickup -hence players can reproduce the popular tones from both a Jazz and a Precision Bass.

Although the hybrid design is very useful for the gigging musician -it's still more of a jack of all trades; it certainly doesn't replace either the Jazz or Precision Bass.


Like Xeroxs Of The Original; U Save Money But Lose A Little Quality...
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Both the Fender Precision and the Fender Jazz Basses (including hybrid designs) proved so popular that the designs were quickly (and still are) copied almost exactly by other manufacturers. While this isn't good for the Fender Company (the late great Leo Fender sold the Fender guitar/bass company decades ago, and went on to set up other famous guitar making companies like G&L Guitars), it's great for budding bass players on a budget, because they can pick up cheap Fender copies for under £150 in most cases.

(To win back a slice of the cheap Asian made 'copies' market -Fender even set up their own range of 'copies' of their own American models and called the brand Squier). Some copies, including the the Squier range, are very good value for money; brands include Crafter, Johnson, AXL, JHS, Squier, Vintage but there are loads more (the very best Precision were made in Japan in the early 80's - by Squier, Tokai and such like; they're highly sought after even though they're not USA made instruments - non of the other copies, though decently made can hold a candle to these 80's models -please see my other review on Yamaha Guitars for more info).


Buying From Uncle Sam
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Seasoned players though will often still pay the extra and buy an American made Fender Precision or Jazz -which are often superior instruments; though they tend to carry hefty price tags too (expect to pay close to £1000 and upwards for a really good one). There's a thriving market for vintage and second hand USA Fender Basses too, but be warned although there are some fantastic old basses out there - they're not all good -lol!


Back To The Future; I Mean Fretless -And The Circle Is Complete -Lol!
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Since Leo created his Precision and Jazz basses there have been some subtle variations and innovations that have proved popular with some players -such as;

Active pickups - actually this is a silly name for a good idea, because the pickups aren't active at all, they're no different from normal pickups -lol!! What really happens is that a small bit of circuitry called a pre-amp (powered by a 9 volt battery) is added to the guitar wiring to boost the signal level (useful if you have to plug directly into a mixing desk -because there's an impedance mismatch on the desk input which will make the bass sound dull unless it's preamped or a Direct Injection box is used). A pre-amp usually enables more EQ (tone) control over the sound too. (Though of course you can always use the EQ on your amp or desk just as well). Active pickups are useful though, but by no means essential.

Fretless basses - Doesn't everything move in circles -lol!! Yes just like on those old fretless upright basses, some players still hankered for that fretless warm sound that lends itself so well to slides and vibrato -but they wanted to achieve the fretless sound on an electric bass. Pioneers of this style took the frets out of their basses and manufacturers soon noticed the trend and now it's possible to buy fretless versions of many popular bass guitars (including the Precision and Jazz).

Electro acoustic basses - Still hankering back to the days of the big bodied upright basses, some bass players wanted what their acoustic guitar playing friends had; an acoustic instrument, with an active pickup fitted - and so the we now have a range of acoustic, fretted basses that look quite similar to acoustic guitars; just longer and with only 4 strings -lol!! Electro acoustic basses are great for folk music and 'unplugged' sessions.

5 String Basses - In the late 70's and 80's when the synthesizer was a huge part of pop music (nowadays the synthesizer's influence is still strong but only in specific genres of music -but not in any of my favourite ones -lol!), it became common to play the bass line on a synth.
These synth bass lines had a big impact on bass lines, and bass players often found themselves having/wanting to emulate the synth lines in some cases, but unfortunately though the lowest note on a bass is the open E note on the 4th string (assuming normal tuning). So bass players got their heads together, and the 5 string bass was born (there were the odd 5 and 6 string basses made earlier than this, but non had the specific purpose of reproducing a tight synth like bass line in mind). The 5th string is a low B, which gives a bass player all the low notes he could ever want -lol!! There are 5 string versions of most popular basses (including the Fender Jazz and Precision).


Summing Up ( Like A Flower**)
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**I know the above is a terrible title; using Paul McCartney's Coming Up Like A Flower song -but at least I've resisted using the 'Bass-ically' Pun anywhere -lol!!

So anyway, that's more or less evolution of the bass guitar - I've homed in on the Precision and Jazz bass guitars, as I think these are arguably the most important basses of all time (plus I own them -lol!! (Though in fairness I've owned dozens and dozens of other great basses over the years too). There are of course many other notable electric bass guitars made by various manufacturers - but it all started with the Leo Fender's Precision Bass. I think the bass is a wonderful instrument, and playing styles are constantly being invented and re-invented :-)

...and it's a very sociable instrument, because you can't really play bass on your own for very long without getting bored; now you know why so many bass players form bands -lol!! While there are certainly some unimaginative folks (like our spotty friend in his car with the cheap stereo up full blast ;-) who will thing that a great bass 'line' is simply consists of the banging out a boring 2/4 dance rhythm on simple root notes -for both the true music lover and the imaginative bass player; the possibilities are truly endless...

The bass is a wonderful instrument; if you've ever fancied playing it's not difficult or that expensive to get started; so what are waiting for? (Plus if you've got a silly sense of humour like me -you can keep breaking into Michael Jackson's Billy Jean riff at band rehearsals; the look on the singer's face will always be priceless :-)


Final Thought's; And Bass's Ultimate Revenge On Mr Spotty -Lol!!
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For the final thought I'd like to return to Mr Spotty our young car driving friend with his annoyingly loud car stereo thumping out the most annoying repetitive uninspired bass heavy 'music' as he tears down the road at break-neck speed in the early hours of the morning - disturbing everyone...

What Spotty doesn't know is that the distortion from his speakers and amp, together with the absurdly high SPL (sound pressure levels) created in the car, and the huge amount of hours he's subjecting his delicate ears to that abuse... mean that you don't need to wish you could tell him to turn that racket down because, in the end, his self inflicted hearing damage will cause entire world will be turned down for him...

...and since with volume induced hearing loss it's always the top frequencies that go first ; only Spotty's beloved indistinguishably muddy bass frequencies (which he annoyed everyone else with) will remain for him - so be comforted that there is such a thing as poetic justice if Mr Spotty should rudely awaken you, driving past your home with his car stereo turned up full -lol!!

Thanks for reading my review, and I hope you enjoyed it!!

Best wishes,
Caveat-Emptor

Summary: Bass Guitar Is A great Instrument, With Prices For All Budgets -Low Hertz Won't Hurt Your Pocket :-)